If your students tend to stick with their existing friend groups or cliques, assigning a buddy rather than letting them choose may be more effective. Once you have finished talking, have each participant write down as many words as they can remember from the list. Play a Listening Game. Find out all the facts rather than guessing at motives. Now that you are familiar with these types of communication styles, its time to analyze how you convey your thoughts to others (and if there is any room for improvement). Are non-verbal messages always obvious in real life? To unpack these types, imagine that youre having lunch with a friend when they get a phone call. Here's what that might look like: You're trying to get dinner ready and your child is demanding ice cream. This is an excellent activity to get kids in a positive mood, and its appropriate for kids of all ageseven teenagers can find at least one good thing in their lives. Tell the participants that you are going to give them a series of instructions and you want them to follow them as fast as they can. 40 Empathy Activities & Worksheets for Students & Adults In this game, kids learn conflict-resolution skills by watching animations of realistic situations and seeing the effects of both good and bad choices. How do laypeople define empathy? Regular family meetings can help family members learn how to: Pick one night of the week when your family can consistently get together for a weekly family meeting that lasts 30 to 60 minutes, and make sure its scheduled on everyones calendar. Children learn by observing others and doing what they do. Finally, you can userewards and positive reinforcement to encourage more kindness in the classroom. Depending on the date activity, it can also provide some much-needed time for the couple to talk. Reichmann, D. (n.d.). Explain how everyone has strong, negative feelings like this sometimes, and that its okay to feel them. Why is it important to recognize the signs that you are angry? World Kindness Day is the perfect time to practice kindness, whether its toward family members, friends, coworkers, or strangers. Tell the other group to think of something that they are passionate about and be prepared to tell their soon-to-be partner a meaningful or personally relevant story about this topic. Teaching your students how to have a conversation. You could even carry on the discussion as the program continues.. Theres a fair amount of research on kindness contagion the idea that when we see it, were more likely to engage in it ourselves, adds Dr. Zaki. This worksheet can be completed individually or in a group setting. The role you are holding is knotted together to form a circle; it must not be undone. Once the timer goes off, the two should try to guess what the other person was thinking and feeling during the five minutes. Why? By filling out your name and email address below. If they have trouble coming up with answers, talk about how people might feel angry, scared, sad, upset, embarrassed, or confused. You need at least three teams. Tell family members to think about a time when they were angry or upset, and consider how they felt. A great lesson for kids to learn is that assertive communication is about being firm and direct without being angry or upset. Practice taking turns with a talking stick or a ball, teaching your children that they can speak when they have the object but they are expected to listen when others are talking (Stanfield, 2017). Teach the power of pausing (e.g., encourage them to pause, think, and ask questions like What do you mean by that? and Why?). This activity can be a good way to start the day, end the day, or simply encourage community and kindness at any time. For example, try to imagine you are doing someone elses work. It requires some preparation, but it can be extremely helpful in differentiating between empathy and other responses. Teaching nurses how to communicate with empathy is crucial to unleash the true potential that empathy has to transform and heal. The couple will schedule some time for themselves without kids, work, or other responsibilities interrupting them. How well did the listening partners summarize the speakers opinions? On the first slip, have each family member write a question off the top of his or her head; it can be silly, serious, or anywhere in between. If thats not enough for you, here are five more ideas from The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation (2016): For more ideas on how to celebrate World Kindness Day with random acts of kindness, take a look at the many ideas listed on the Random Acts of Kindness website. Pass each bowl around the room and have each family member take one question slip and one answer slip. Teach respectful vocabulary and remind students that being cold (passive) or hot (angry) will probably result in less understanding and more conflict. Abundance. Was your heart rate normal or beating fast? If you have carefully followed all these instructions, call out I have. The Aggressive Alligator is a great tool from Kristina Marcelli-Sargent, for teaching assertiveness over-aggressiveness or passiveness. Emotional Empathy is the ability to relate to the emotions of another person. Split your group into two smaller groups of equal size and take one group outside the room. Instead of just leaving an emoji on a friends Instagram post, why not directly text or call them? Use words that rhyme with red or green to see if the players catch the difference (e.g., Bread Light! Skill. 13 Top Games That Teach Empathy | Common Sense Education It also gives kids a chance to be creative and silly, which helps to keep them engaged in the activity. You could cut pictures out of old magazines and paste them on a poster board. Put a tick in each of the circles mentioned in 6. The builder partner then relays a series of instructions to the other partner to help him or her build the exact same structure. What are Communication Activities, Exercises, and Games? If you received an award as the Employee of the Month, you may want to mold the image of something that represents hard work, or dependability. B: Thats nothing, you should see the one I have on my knee. Simply print the 8 page empathy activity sheets book on a home printer or at school. B: I did not! However, you may need to specifically encourage them to join you in calling out fellow students for praise or thanks. When you spoke to the other person face-to-face, did this improve your ability to communicate and understand the other persons feelings? Do you schedule a time to talk about how your relationship is doing or do you just let it flow naturally? As a family, discuss any discrepancies between what you think about your anger cues and what other family members think. This will encourage students to practice active and compassionate listening, to put themselves in anothers shoes, and to share their stories with others. Free multimedia curriculum containing 15 classroom-based lessons that each take approximately 30-45 minutes to complete. Communication within the family is vital for the same reasons as in any other contextit forms the foundation of the relationship, allows the family members to share their thoughts with each other, and provides opportunities for the family to problem-solve, build stronger bonds, and grow closer. Ask for volunteers who would like to share their nice thing with the class, or volunteers who have given their neighbors permission to share their nice things for them. Units and activities teach about basic interactions, managing emotions, conversations, empathy, and perspective-taking. You dont know who theyre talking to, but at some point, your friend starts to cry. Relate this to real-life listening by emphasizing the importance of paying attention to people when they are speaking to you, especially if its an important conversation. 3 Icebreakers To Build Empathy Among Strangers Within 10 Minutes How did listeners feel about not being able to speak about their own views on the topic? Such connections build on [], Chamber of Commerce (KvK) Registration Number: 64733564, 6229 HN Maastricht. To hit the point home, refer to these discussion points and questions: Another useful exercise from the Training Course Material website is called Guess the Emotion. As you might expect, it involves acting out and guessing emotions. 2. Youll need about an hour for this activity, 15 minutes to make the dough and 45 minutes for the activity itself. If youre not sure where to begin, give these a try: Animals: Monkey, dog, cat, rabbit, kangaroo, snake, Activities: brushing teeth, playing cards, shining a flashlight, fishing, playing frisbee, Emotions: scared, sad, bored, angry, happy, wary, proud. Teach your kids conversation skills with techniques like puppets and video modeling, which they can then apply in exercises and activities. However, the most important thing to remember when it comes to teaching kindness is to model the behavior you hope to see in the childrenbe kind yourself, and they will be more likely to mirror that kindness (Radke-Yarrow & Zahn-Waxler, 1984). Youve probably noticed a themewhatever issue or problem a student is having (unless its an emergency), he or she should first work one-on-one with a partner to attempt to solve it. For example, folding your arms, snorting, frowning, etc Select a TV program or a segment of a video. Click here to read about this exercise from the Education Development Centers Bullying Prevention program. If a couple wants to practice both their verbal and nonverbal communication, this is a great way to do it. What was memorable about it? Challenging your students to a competition can be an effective motivator for increasing kindness. Similar to the three good things exercise, this games aim is to boost a couples gratitude for one another and give them both a chance to practice expressing it. Plan out what youre going to say before you say it. Proud to Be Primary. If this is not possible, you can either push the desks and chairs to the perimeter of the room, arrange the chairs in a circle, or sit on the floor with the whole class. Completing this worksheet will help students learn what empathy is, how to spot empathy, how to practice empathy, and why its important. Social Skills for Middle & High School MEGA BUNDLE SEL Lessons & Curriculum. This exercise will show how difficult it is to communicate without words, but it will also show your participants that it is not only possible, it gets easier as they start to pick up on one anothers nonverbal cues. Spending just a few minutes on it at the end of class can boost everyones mood, give students a chance to publicly appreciate one another, and send students home riding a wave of positivity and kindness. Have each family member read the question and the answer that they have in their hand. For ideas on how to incorporate classroom lessons on kindness into your teaching, the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation has several useful lesson plans and curriculums targeted toward a range of different year and age groups on their website. Start by giving simple definitions to the terms passive, aggressive, and assertive. Next, show them a list of animals or a bin of small stuffed animals and allow them to choose an animal that they feel represents each definition. HEPs expand their empathy by gaining direct experience of other people's lives, putting into practice the Native American proverb, Walk a mile in another man's moccasins before you criticize him .". Wee You Things. To this end, this article will walk you through a range of fun activities, exercises, and worksheets to help both children and adults develop the capacity for kindness and empathy in everyday life. If theres time, you can have multiple rounds for added competition between the teams. Likewise, imagine how different classrooms, offices, organizations, and homes around the world might be if more adults stopped to consider how they might demonstrate more empathy and kindness in their regular interactions. Custodian Appreciation: Have your students write letters and put up signs showing their appreciation for the people who keep the school clean and tidy. It is estimated that adults make eye contact 30-60% of the time in general conversation, increasing to 60-70% of the time when trying to form a more intimate relationship (Cognitive Development Learning Centre, 2019 . After the few minutes are up, have each student pass the handout to another student (not the handouts owner, yet). On the back of the page, divide 50 by 12.5. Cool School: Where Peace Rules. What kind of thoughts was going through your head? After each pair has finished working through the script, have the A participants guess what emotion their partner was feeling. It is especially useful after something particularly emotional or traumatic happens, whether that event took place in the classroom, in your city, or on another continent. Positive Sticky Notes: Leave sticky notes with positive messages (i.e., You are amazing, smart, and talented) on your friends (or strangers!) This exercise can help you or a group learn about the different ways we can respond to a friend in need of empathy, and why empathy is usually the best choice. If youre not sure what to create, here are some examples from the activity description: If you love Boy Scouts, you may want to mold the image of a person sitting on a log by a campfire. In E. Staub, D. Bar-Tal, J. Karylowski, & J. Reykowski (Eds. If youre hungry for more couples communication exercises, maybe these five exercises will hit the spot! The Role of Communication in a Relationship. They should sneak the sticky note onto that students desk when he or she is not looking to make it truly random and fun. After doing a few rounds of this, pass all of the papers back to their owners and give them a chance to read all of the nice things their peers have written about them. Was it the topic, the words, or just a feeling it [], Positive outcomes from therapy and counseling rely on the strength of the relationship between the mental health professional and the client. After doing this for a few minutes, the two should turn around, face each other, and continue the discussionthey will likely find it much easier! Bonus! Carry an older neighbors groceries upstairs. We often have trouble sharing our feelings, even (or especially) with those we are closest to. They might come up with things like: Close your eyes and take several slow deep breaths, Talk silently to yourself and repeat a soothing phrase, such as Keep calm or I control my feelings. Next, each partner will ask the other to share their low of the day or the worst or most disappointing part of their day. At some point in your day, especially when youre stressed or feel like you dont have any spare bandwidth, spend in some small way whether its in time, energy or money on someone in your life. The two partners should schedule a 15 to 30-minute fireside chat each week to practice their ability to speak calmly, respectfully, and effectively about important and relevant issues. Each partner looks directly into the other partners eyes. Teaching empathy to students can look like the following: Elementary School: Show students Squeaky Wheel, a short . Try to be intentional about technology as a medium in which human connection can exist and which you can try to pursue that connection, says Dr. Zaki. The third participant, the Observer, watches the interaction between the other two participants, taking in-depth notes to provide constructive feedback later. We hope you enjoyed reading this article. This can be as simple as a moment of praise or a sticker, or something more personal like a kindness card or a certificate of kindness. You can find this exercise at this link, second exercise from the bottom. Instruct one player from each team to leave the room for one minute and come up with a common object that can be found in most offices (e.g., a stapler, a printer, a whiteboard). There are also many ways to teach empathy to children, a construct thats similar to yet distinct from kindness. The important thing is that each student should eventually get to hear or read a note of thanks or appreciation that someone has written about him or her. The couple sits back to back with an identical set of building blocks in front of each of them. Encourage introspection in your children; it will help them understand themselves better as well as those around them. A: I got caught in traffic for two hours in 100-degree weather and no air conditioning. Its about habits of mind., In an attempt to conserve energy for ourselves, we tend to turn inwards when under pressure. There are many ways to start a Heres To (Student) toast, but three positive sentence stems might include: Use sentiments like these to thank students for their contributions, praise them for a job well-done, or call out an act of kindness. When they hear one clap from the leader (you), tell them this means they should stand up. Students are divided into teams and follow clues to activity stations that are set up throughout the school, with envelopes containing prompts and materials for the students to work with. Choose a person with whom you are having relationship difficulties or a person who holds different beliefs from your own, and really try to step into their shoes. (n.d.). Place these slips in the second bowl and mix them up. As one partner is sharing, the other should practice active listening techniques, conveying their empathy and understanding to their partner. Print out the handout found on the last page of this Empathy Bingo PDF, or copy the words to pieces of paper. Give the group your instructions on how to fold the paper into the origami shape of your choice. Getting out of your routine and into a novel environment can do wonders for your communicationnot to mention your overall mood. View Bundle. I love your posts always. Share this observation with your group and lead a discussion on how body language can influence our understanding and our reactions. I think of building empathy as a way to take care of our social health. Through his introductory seminar at Stanford on empathy (and from where the below exercises are from) and in his book The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World, he helps people train to become more empathic. lockers or your coworkers desks; Thank-You Letter: Write (and send!) will teach students the idea that everyone carries an invisible bucket that can be filled with compliments and kindness. Draw a circle within the square, such that it fits exactly in the middle of the square. What are your thoughts on teaching kindness and empathy in the classroom? While the speaker talks, the listener will attempt to show the speaker compassion, empathy, and understanding through nonverbal communication only (e.g., smiling, nodding, taking their partners hand). The "I Am" Circle. Facilitate a group discussion on the importance of listening, how to use active listening, and what indicates that someone is truly listening. Sign your signature at the foot of the page. This is a large-scale exercise, to be sure, but the payoff can be enormous in terms of enhancing empathy in the entire school. If students have easy access to technology, a video can be substituted for the speech or write-up. Were your hands relaxed or clenched in a fist? Random Acts of Kindness Foundation. Playing video games. Let us know in the comments section. Just some of . A: Look at my scar from the cycling accident. When they hear two claps from the leader, they should hop once in place. 49 Communication Activities, Exercises & Games When the time is up, count each teams completed cards. Is this what I want to be doing? Bring the other group back in, put all the participants into pairs, and tell them to get started. Tell them that they are instructed to stop listening to their partner after about 30 seconds, and to be open in showing their disinterest. If they cant think of things people might do when they feel upset, angry, or sad, mention that they might yell, throw something, hit something, hide, cry, or do something else to make another person feel as bad as they feel. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/teaching-communication-skills. What were some of the difficulties associated with helping a family member complete this exercise? And if our words and our actions come from superficial human relations techniques rather than from our own inner core, others will sense that duplicity. The second part of this worksheet takes this general description of active listening and encourages you to apply it in your life. For this activity, you will need one blindfold for each participant, one long piece of rope for each team (teams should be composed of around 5 participants each), and 25 minutes. This worksheet is a great way to help older kids understand the difference between types of communication and to learn how to communicate assertively. (2017, May 8). I send and I receive positive vibes with them.. from shutterstock.com To actively teach children empathy, parents can explain their own emotions during significant events.They can also . Give each student at least one compliment before the end of the day. How can they use the lessons from this exercise at work? Point out which one(s) resulted in a positive outcome and which one(s) should probably be avoided. After the three minutes is up, the listener has one minute to recap what the speaker said (not agree, disagree, or debate, just recap). Dont forget to say thank you or otherwise verbally express your gratitude to your partner! It can be surprisingly easy to slide into a pattern of mostly neutral or even negative language with your partner, but you can use this exercise to counter that tendency. Sargent, K. M. (2015). Say no when you need to, say it clearly, and do it without lying. Use I feel statements, not You are statements (Victoria Department of Health & Human Services, n.d.). Abass, S. (n.d.). As a matter of fact, some experts consider gamification as an essential method in teaching empathic attitudes in a playful way. A quick Google search will reveal dozens, if not hundreds, of kindness activities for children and students. If you have a particularly chatty class or a class that hasnt mastered writing yet, this Heres To activity can be a good substitute for the Thank You Post. Then imagine a friend coming to you with that same problem and how youd respond to them. The dialogues include back-and-forths such as: A: Im worried about having enough money to pay my bills this month. You also might try to figure out what theyre feeling and why, and thats what wed call cognitive empathy. Fleming, G. (2018). Given the nature of the silent appreciation activity, it will only be suitable for classes where everyone has at least some writing abilityso it likely wont work for a classroom of preschoolers. We'll include a summary of the empathy exercise, what it's best used for, how to do the exercise, how long it takes, and how many people are needed. Write the 5th, 10th, 9th and 20th letters of the alphabet here: ___________________, Punch three holes with your pen here: o o o. Gather your group of participants together and hand out a piece of paper and a pen or pencil to each player. To play The Top Three, couples should follow these instructions: This game gets couples to practice vocalizing their appreciation and expressing gratitude, two things that are not necessarily in everyones daily communications but can have a big impact on a relationship. Starting the day with this activity can get students in the right frame of mind to be more kind and empathetic towards one another, and it can alert you to potential problems with specific students. Tell your participants that you will be giving them step-by-step instructions on how to fold their piece of paper into an origami shape. How can you be aware of how we may misinterpret someone elses non-verbal messages?. Use these instructions to conduct the activity: After each participant has played both roles, end the activity and guide a discussion with the following questions: You will find this activity at this link, exercise #4. The couple continues sharing things one at a time until each partner has shared at least three or four times. In fact, why not turn them into a lifelong practice? We would love to hear from you. A great way to work on communicating your feelings more oftenand more effectivelyis to practice saying I feel (blank)., The next time you are experiencing strong emotions or discussing a sensitive or difficult subject with your partner, try beginning your sentences with I feel and continue from there. Teen Light!). During the activity, what communication skills could you have used to improve performance? After each person has completed a mold, picture, or collage, allow each family member to explain how their collage, picture or mold represents them. Learning From My Work. Fold the strips of paper so you cant see what is written on it and place them in a bowl or jar. You can use a stuffed animal, a small beach ball, or any object that is easy to hold and pass around. Victoria Department of Health & Human Services. You will need strips of paper, a pencil or pen for each family member, and two bowls. The first person to complete the list will be declared the winner of the activity. We all need air to breathe and water to stay alive. After 5 to 7 minutes, turn off the TV and discuss what you observed. Videos of lessons in action. Have someone give voice instructions so the family member can be directed through the maze. At opposite ends of each line, whisper a phrase or short sentence to the person on the end and tell them to pass it on using only whispers, one person at a time. Write down the difference in time between the two watches at the foot of this page. This exercise is based on whats called deep canvassing, a strategy thats used by some activists where they have 10-15-minute, two-way, emotionally-engaged conversations with the people theyre trying to persuade. Clear the room so you have as much space as possible. When the messages have made it to the end of each line, have the last person to receive the message in each line report out on what they heard. For this exercise, think of how you currently use your phone and rethink how you might use it differently. Begin the activity! Theres nothing like traveling with someone to work on your communication skills! But what exactly is empathy? Instruct each student to turn to one of their neighbors and tell him or her something good. There are three stages of empathy: Cognitive empathy is being aware of the emotional state of another person. Compliment the first three people you talk to; Say good morning to the person next to you on the elevator (or bus, or subway, or street); Pick up litter. The final exercise from Tasker is called I Feel _____ and its a simple one. Children learn empathy growing up, but can we train adults to have more How important was it to listen carefully to the one giving instructions? 4 helpful nonverbal communication activities. You have a couple of options when it comes to reading the notes of appreciation: You can choose any of these methods or create your own method that works for your class. It can be used to help couples communicate, share important details, and strengthen their connection. If you remember the game Twenty Questions, youll recognize this game. Heres how to put this activity into practice: This activitys aim is to see if the family member giving instructions can help the blindfolded family member get through the maze without bumping into the furniture, walls, or string. Teaching kindness in the classroom. This post is part of TEDs How to Be a Better Human series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from people in the TED community;browse throughall the posts here.
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